Blog 9: Your Birthday and Your Immune System

          Scientists have hypothesized that the month in which babies are born can affect how their immune system develops and even how vulnerable they are to autoimmune diseases.  Scientists studying the neurological disorder, multiple sclerosis, have been puzzled by the "birth month effect" in which the rates of the disease are lowest for those born in November.  Some believe that insufficient levels of vitamin D (on the mom's part), which the skin produces when exposed to sunlight, can have an effect on this.  Babies born in May are gestated during the colder, darker months, while winter babies are in utero during the spring and summer.  Vitamin D stimulates a specific type of immune cell know as auto-reactive T-cells.  T-cells are white blood cells that fight off pathogens like bacteria and viruses, but auto-reactive T-cells are those that mistake the body's own cells as foreign and attack them as if they were an unwanted infection.  Researchers in the UK studied 50 babies born in May and 50 babies born in November.  They found that babies born in May had vitamin D levels 20% lower than those born in November and almost double the amount of auto-reactive T-cells.  It's not clear yet whether supplements of vitamin D could help to lower the rates of disease, but more research is being done to figure out whether pregnant women should take more vitamin D in order to strengthen their babies immune systems.
          This article is important because if researchers and scientists could determine if there is a direct relationship between conception months and immune systems, then it could potentially be a breakthrough at fighting the many diseases present in our society.  Vitamin D is a very important vitamin that is stressed in our society as one we need to stay healthy.  Although many people think that you can achieve vitamin D through the tanning bed, it is only the sun that can naturally provide you with the right amounts of vitamin D.  This article proves another important reason why we need more of the vitamin.  If studies could prove that more vitamin D could show significant improvement and strength to a baby's immune system, then pregnant women would be more motivated to take in the vitamin.  With stronger immune systems, babies could fight off many diseases that infants are targeted with.  Our infant mortality rate in the United States is surprisingly high and nobody would want their child to fall victim to this.  These studies are important because they could save the lives of our children in more ways than one.

Jessilyn Bulla
April 12, 2013
3:50 pm
http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/12/health/birthday-immune-disorders-time/index.html?hpt=he_c2